For the carrots

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Tip

Try it with duck

To prepare a classic confit of duck,
follow the same method using duck
legs instead of the pork and only
poach them in the fat for 2 hrs until
the meat is very tender. To serve,
crisp them up in the oven in exactly
the same way.

Tip

Salting

The longer you leave the pork salted
before cooking, the more flavour it
will have. If you can, salt the pork the
night before poaching and leave it in
the fridge, but wipe off all the salt and brine that comes off the pork before
cooking or it will be too salty.

Tip

Confit

This method
of slow cooking in fat is known as
‘confit’ and although you start by
cooking in lots of fat, you actually
render the fat out of the meat so that
the finished dish is a lot leaner than
simply roasting. The leftover fat will keep in the
fridge for up to 1 month or can be
frozen for 6 months ready to make
the recipe again. The fat is delicious
when used for roasting and frying.

Tip

Get ahead

This recipe is designed to be prepared
ahead so that in the restaurants we
can put it together in minutes when
a dish comes on order. The pork can be poached in the fat,
pressed, then kept in the fridge for up
to 3 days or frozen for a month. The
carrots can be boiled and drained the
day before, ready to be coloured in
the pan, and the onion velouté can
be completely made ahead the day
before ready to be reheated on the day.

Method

With a pestle and mortar, crush
the coriander seeds with the star
anise, then stir through the salt. Season
the pork on both sides with the salt
mix. Place the pork, skin side up, in
an ovenproof dish that is just large
enough to hold it. Scatter over the
herbs, then leave overnight if you have
time - see tip, below.

Heat oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2. Empty the goose fat into a
saucepan and heat until liquid
and starting to simmer. Ladle the
fat over the pork; add sunflower oil to
cover if you need to. Cover the dish
with foil, then cook the pork in the
oven, undisturbed, for 3 hrs by which
time it will be very tender.

Remove the dish from the oven
and leave it to settle for 10 mins.
Meanwhile, line a tray with a piece
of greaseproof paper. Carefully lift the
pork from the fat and pick off any herbs.
Lay it on the paper, skin side down. Cut
another piece of paper and lay it over
the pork. Cover with a tray, weighed
down with a couple of cans, and leave
in fridge overnight - see tip, below.

When you are ready to cook
the pork, heat oven to 220C/
fan 200C/ gas 7. Remove pork
from the tray, then peel away paper.
Lightly score the skin into neat diamonds
with a sharp knife and trim the edges so
you get a perfect rectangle.

To cook the pork, heat a drizzle of
oil in a large non-stick ovenproof
pan. Lay the pork, skin side down,
and leave for a few mins to crackle,
then place the pan in the oven and
cook for 20 mins. Remove from the
oven and check to see that the skin
has blistered, then carefully flip it over
and cook the underside for 3 mins just
to heat through. Lift to a board.

While the pork is roasting, make the velouté. Heat the butter in a frying
pan. Cook the onions and
apples for 8-10 mins until
soft, but not coloured. Pour in the stock and simmer
for 8 mins until the apples start
to collapse. Stir in the cream, then simmer
everything for 2 mins more. Season with salt and pepper.
Carefully tip into a blender, blitz
until as smooth as possible, then
tip into a saucepan so it’s ready
to be reheated.

Boil the carrots for 2 mins in salted
water, then drain well. Heat the
olive oil, then fry the carrots with
seasoning for 5 mins, tossing
occasionally until starting to brown. Gently reheat the velouté. You're now ready to plate up.

Use a sharp knife to carve
the pork into long slices about
2cm thick. Lay 2 or 3 slices on each plate,
slightly overlapping. Put 3 or 4 carrots on each
plate, lying all in the same
direction as the pork. Spoon a puddle of velouté
over the end of the carrots.
Garnish with a sprig of parsley.

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Comments, questions and tips

Comments

The pork belly turned out wonderfully - the confit really is a great approach, far better than regular slow cooking.
My crackling could still use some work - it was nearly impossible to chew and cracked loudly as we attempted to enjoy it with our molars. I don't have an oven safe non-stick pan, so I fried it on medium high in a non-stick pan for a few minutes before transferring to a seasoned stainless steel pan in the oven. It didn't stick, but was super hard and difficult to chew after 20 minutes at 220. I cheated in the end and microwaved each piece of crackling for 45 seconds, which helped immensely.
Any tips for the crackling?

Fantastic recipe - I have cooked this one several times now. I planned to make it for Easter Sunday but was struck down with a tummy bug so couldn't cook it for the second time. Fortunately, my husband was well, did the final cook off and ate the lot. Ah well perhaps next time, I'll get a look in.

Not for the impatient, but definately for the good tasted.lovely flavours from the pork,coriander and star anise seasoning, then the veloute is to die for. Only cooked the one time but will cook again and again !! typically gordan typically great!!!!!

This isn't at all difficult - the prep is actually minimal, but it does take a long time to get to the finished dish, what with all the cooking and leaving overnight etc.
was it worth it? not in my opinion. Was nice, but didn't blow me away.

I have the pork in the oven at the moment (first stage), but I can't see thyme and rosemary in the cooking method, although they are in the ingredients. Should it have gone on the pork with the star anise and coriander seeds at the beginning.? HELP!!!!

That aside, I can't wait to see what it tastes like after all the fantastic reviews.

Amazing recipe...takes a little effort, but technique-wise it's not difficult at all...pork comes out very tender, and crackling is crisp...I'm not the greatest of cooks but I've had pork belly a couple of times since in restaurants and I could swear this recipe tops theirs!

I made this for my sister in law and her friend when they were visiting from America. My sister in law can get pork belly where she stays, seemingly Americans use it all for streaky bacon. As it is one of many things she really misses, I thought I would suprise her. I've never cooked pork belly before and I was slightly anxious, but this recipe was so easy to follow and the end result was an overwhelming success, even my sister in law's American friend, who had never tried belly pork before, loved it. I will be making this again. Thanks Gordon.

I usually try to follow any new recipe exactly. Once it has proved itself, I'll tinker with it.
This time, I made one small variation. I bought a whole belly of pork, and asked the butcher to cut it into two. I did not bone it, because I have the thought that there is flavour in the bones -and anyway, I'm too lazy!
I rendered down the remaining, (really fat) half- belly, and extracted a two-pint bowl of pork fat.
When I saw the recipe, I gave a shout of glee. I had been feeling so guilty about that bowl of saturated fat, lurking in my fridge. But now, here was a really great recipe to justify its use.
It was this fat I used to simmer the recipe pork.

Wow! I made this last night, and have gleefully squirreled it away until my foodie friends arrive here in France, next week. I often wondered how they produce fantastic roast pork, to order, in small, smart restaurants - this is how! It is easy to prepare, and belly pork is still relatively inexpensive. All you need is three hours at home, whilst it bubbles away in the oven.
Three hours well spent! The flavour of corriander & star anise is amazing.
Only caveat - be careful carrying the dish filled with pork and oil to the oven - it is heavy. I ruined my best sweater when oil slurped over. Use a good thick apron!

Just did this but with pork belly strips and I guess I need to adjust the cooking times! But it's still the best crackling ever! The veloute is very good but am wondering whether it would be even better with a dash or three of calvados! Nice one Gordon

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